Number two-seed in the Girls Under-19 singles T'Shelle Barnes pulled off an upset of top seed Amara Urquhart to claim the title at the Junior National Badminton Tournament at the National Racquet Centre in Tacarigua, Sunday.
Both Urquhart and Barnes are standout players in the junior division for T&T, however, Urquhart who won the battle of CAREBACO (Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation) Championship singles winners over Barnes in January was expected to walk away with the crown, while Barnes silently sought revenge, which she got.
In the final, Urquhart expectedly took the advantage 22-20 in the first set. Barnes came from behind in the second to knot up the scores 1-1 with a 21-16 victory to push the match to a third deciding set which Barnes prevailed in 21-14 to lift the crown.
Later on, Barnes returned to the field with Isabelle Waller in the girl's doubles to claim her second title by defeating the pair of Natalia Henry and Kara Ashley Robertson 21-10, 21-7.
Urquhart got some form of revenge over Barnes when the two met in the U-19 mixed doubles after she paired with Jonathan Julien to get the better of Barnes and Jace Smith in three sets 10-21, 22-20, 21-14.
But the top seed in the girls' U-17 category, Samiya Karim ensured she did not suffer a similar fate in the final against second-seed Tenniya Tobias. Karim, who won four matches in straight sets following a first-round bye en route to capturing the age-group crown in style at the Caribbean Easter Badminton Tournament in Suriname last year, wrapped up the title in two sets, beating Tobias 21-16, 21-13.
Later, Azaria Gaskin took two sets to defeat top-seed Rishelle Bopodoosingh for the girls' U-15 crown 21-18, 21-18. Gaskin, like Barnes joined forces to receive her second title of the tournament. Gaskin later teamed up with Chijioke Kalu to dispose of the pair of Logan Waithe and Rishelle Boodoosingh in straight sets 21-13, 21-13.
In the boy's U-15 category, Liam Persad dismissed Kalu 21-18-21-12, and later they combined for the boys' doubles crown by beating the twosome of Javan Ramjass and Logan Waithe 21-12, 21-17.
Other winners at the tournament included Devonnye Vincent who clobbered Kenaiya Gangoo for the girls' U-11 title 21-6, 21-11; Ethan Ramcharan defeated Kaveer Ramoutar 21-12, 21-11 for the boys' U-19 crown; Asia Lee Waller defeated Kaia Jan for the girls' U-13 title 21-7, 21-5; and Liam Rajkumar got the better of Zidan Hosein 21-6, 21-10 for the boys' U-13 crown.
